Quick review for a quick read. Note: Some discussion of rape and rape cases in this review, so possible TW for those reading this review.

This book is very hard to read, but I felt it was a necessary and completely compelling narrative. I'll admit I didn't hear all that much about Aaron Hartzler's "What We Saw" before it was released, but it took my attention considering a number of horrifying cases of recent mention in media. This I believe was inspired by the Steubenville High School rape case, which I am still taken speechless at not only the lack of help for the victim, but the attempts to cover it up for the sake of the school trying to save face. It also brought to mind the recent Stanford rapist case where a young woman - inebriated and completely unconscious - was left naked by a dumpster and raped by a 19-year old swimmer, Brock Turner. It was only by the discovery of two Swedish students who saw Turner in the act that he was caught. The young men chased him down and held him until the police arrived. The sentence that Turner received for the crime? Six months. Six freaking months. The judge gave leniency on him (and has been reported to have given lenency in other sexual assault cases), Turner's father and mother wrote letters that testified Turner as being the victim of this, and a *friend* of Turner's wrote an exposition of how "drinking" was the real culprit and not Turner's actions or lack of inhibition.

In my mind, I'm left wondering when we - as a society - are going to treat rape as the crime that it is. That women and their bodies are not objects to be taken advantage of or put on display or rated on a scale, that it isn't fair to dehumanize or assume consent when they are not in a capacity to give it. Hartzler's narrative explores many of these issues and rape culture in vivid detail - and the narrative doesn't shy away from the details of this particular horrific case.

The story is told from the POV of Kate Weston, a young woman who was inebriated at a party. She doesn't remember the details of the night, though her childhood friend Ben Cody was responsible for driving her home. Yet, following that night, Stacey Stallard accuses four of Kate's classmates (also prominent players on the school's basketball team) and starts a firestorm that culminates in a number of accusations, dehumanizations, and alienations in the aftermath, including attempts by the school (including the coach) to cover it up and move on for it in anticipation of its forthcoming championship. Kate struggles to know what to believe, witnessing many of the harmful dialogues that are involved in rape culture (blaming the victim for what she was wearing, the community shunning her morals and lifestyle, etc). She also finds herself questioning where Ben was during the events at the party, considering he went back to the party after dropping her off the night she was drunk.

I felt so much for Stacey, and her raw emotion during the brief moments we see her in the narrative had my heart aching for her. There was one scene in the narrative where Stacey's mother slams the door in Kate's face and we hear Stacey making the claim against Kate "She's one of them! She's one of them!" even as Kate tries to reach out to her - they used to be friends in the seventh grade before growing apart. Hartzler treats all the characters in this narrative with an incredible amount of conviction and dimension, and it manages still to be a fast and fluid read with a careful eye to the issues within - not heavyhanded nor lecturing, but observant and informative.

The description of the events on the tape that Stacey's in is graphic, brutal, but honest, done in a way that I felt really showed the horror of it (in which Kate and her brother Will have palpable reactions.) The way also that the narrative gradually reveals the gravity of Ben's willingness to sweep events by the wayside and ultimately put on display his dishonesty was well done. I predicted his role early on, but wasn't sure how the narrative would handle it. I'm glad that Kate was able to see the horrible thoughts and actions of the people around her and how they were dehumanizing and trying to erase the crime against Stacey.

In the end, this was a narrative that will stick in my mind for a long time. I don't give many full 5-star reviews, but this deserves every single one in my eyes. A heartfelt and gripping read.

Overall score: 5/5 stars.

 I know this is based around a true story and for that this is difficult to read. But this genre is just not my thing. I've read a few of the new ones about this topic and while I'm probably not supposed to, to an extant, I just don't enjoy these books. The only one I think that stands out still is Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. 

Kate was at the party too and probably as drunk as Stacey. But she's not the one who woke up to find terrible pictures of her being passed around on social media. But it is her friends on the basketball team being accused of rape and sexual assault. Kate can't shake the feeling that the whole town is trying to cover something up, including her perfect boyfriend and best friend since they were five. 

Kate annoyed me a bit. I thought she was extremely naive for a while in this story. I guess that may be the point that this whole town acted so awfully towards one girl. The ending finished better than I thought it would, even though it was a bit predictable. 

I don't know, I can see why girls need to read books like these and that this topic is important. But I do see both sides of the story and was just frustrated with every character in What We Saw to actually enjoy the book.

Once you visually see something, have you ever wished you could unsee it? Most people would say yes to this, for we as humans are curious people. We want to know, we need to know, for if we don’t know we feel that we are missing out on something in life and then later…… sometimes we wish we could turn back time and just say no and not look.   In this novel, Kate battles with this dilemma for she wants to watch a video that has been posted yet in doing so, it will unleash a host of emotions for Kate and it will pull her into a legal situation that Kate is not sure she is ready for.   The topic is rape, the subjects are high school students and the allegations are whether is really occurred. The author brings various issues influencing teens into the novel which play an important role on the assault. Provocative dress, alcohol, cell phones and sport scholarships influence the characters and their views in this novel. The author’s use of the video as a controlling factor was an excellent feature of this novel as there is quite a bit of confusion and emotions that this piece of media creates. The main character, Kate, her emotions get the best of her sometimes and with this topic, that is typical as this makes her real. There is nothing fluffy in this novel, the characters each have their view of what transpired and the novel quickly tells it like it is, so what really happened?

Title: What We Saw
Author: Aaron Hartzler
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Publisher: Harper Teen
Publication Date: September 22, 2015
Format: egalley provided by Edelweiss

Synopsis

My Rating: 5 of 5 stars

My Review (originally posted at Read, Run, Ramble):

Thank you, Harper Teen via Edelweiss for providing me with a copy of this book!

I knew from the second I read the synopsis of What We Saw that I had to read it and that it would be a monumental book. I wasn’t wrong, and it was every single magnificent thing I thought it would be AND more.

Aaron Hartzler has taken on an issue we’re facing in our society all too often. He handled it with moving words, well thought out storylines, and without stereotypes or preachiness. This novel is simply real. Within a few pages my heart was in my throat and there it remained for the next several hours as I devoured the entire book. Additionally, it was less than halfway through when I became emotionally involved – anger, sadness, disbelief, disgust. By the end, there was also some hope.

Kate and the other students in a small town in Iowa are forced to face a lot of facts and reality when a party gets out of hand. As an investigation begins, Hartzler shows how the media, a town’s misplaced allegiance, and society’s blindness to the culture around them (a culture propagated and often supported by all) mix together to create a group mentality that easily blocks the truth. He shows how quickly even the innocent are wrapped up in the herd and just doing and saying what they’re told is correct. He shows how simple things we hear, watch, and support every day build a culture that allows this group mentality – this protection of the accused vs. protection of the victim.

Kate’s character is a refreshing view. Readers will follow her through varying feelings as she tries to navigate her memory and others’ to determine what happened. It is the Kates of the world that make a difference. Someone willing to look past the view everyone wants the world to see. Someone willing to look for the truth even when it hurts. Hartzler was brave with Kate and it made a world of difference in the book. She’s unapologetic about her choices and decisions. Though they hurt, though they take her places she doesn’t want to go and separate her from those she loves, she does what she feels is right and she does it with courage and strength. Though she is often confused and scared, Kate is one of the strongest and bravest protagonists out there in YA right now.

This book needs to be read. It needs to be on shelves across the nation. Its content needs to be discussed and understood … and felt.

I was provided with an ARC of this book by the publisher or author in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I am not compensated for any of my reviews.

Have I mentioned how handsome my cat is?

Top Ten:

Homeland by Cory Doctorow

Sequel to Little Brother. Whistleblowing, kidnapping by government agents, peaceful protests aided by technology, nerdy activism, the “War on Terror,” and Burning Man. This book is perfect. Very brief review here.

Rapture Practice by Aaron Hartzler

You don’t see a lot of YA memoir. This one is really terrific. About a boy growing up in a strict fundamentalist Christian family. Turns out, he’s gay. That sounds a bit ho-hum, but Hartzler tells his story in a really nuanced, compassionate, and funny way.

Proxy by Alex London

In my review, I said, “Think M.T. Anderson's Feed meets Lloyd Alexander's The Black Cauldron, with some queer content thrown in.” In a world just like ours (only more so), a few are super-rich and everyone else is in debt they can never pay off. When the rich break the rules, their proxies are punished for them. What happens when a Patron and Proxy meet? I realize that this summary makes it seem kind of porn-y, but it’s not.

This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales (Author’s original title: “Last of the Famous International Party Girls,” then “My Suicide Playlist.”)

Elise has been bullied at school forever and is getting quietly desperate. Then she stumbles upon a secret nighttime warehouse dance party and meets dreamy Char (short for “DJ This Charming Man”), who teaches her to be a DJ. Elise’s life is completely transformed by music and meeting people who. . . it’s not that they don’t care about being cool, they just have a wildly different sense of what being cool means.   

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

I kept reading reviews of this book, and the synopsis always made me say, “Feh.” But after encountering so many rave reviews, I decided to try it, and I loved it. Let’s see if this synopsis makes you say “Feh.”

It’s 1986, in Omaha, and the story is told in alternating viewpoints. Eleanor’s life is awful because her abusive stepfather won’t allow her to have things like toiletries and new clothes. Because of the above and the fact that she’s fat and has a kooky sense of style, everyone at school thinks she’s a freak. Park, who sits next to her on the bus, thinks so too, but over time he lets her read his comics over his shoulder. Then he notices she has Smiths song titles written on her notebook, but it turns out that she’s never actually heard the Smiths because of course she has no cassettes. This is the most depressing thing Park has ever heard, so he makes her a tape. True love blossoms.

This book kind of has everything because it’s nerdy, it’s sexy, it’s sad and it’s uplifting. Also mostly it seems like stark realism but there’s one pivotal thing that the abusive stepfather does that in the context of the novel is creepy, but when you compare it to real life, it’s like, wow, if only real abusive adults would leave it at that and not do the actual stuff they do. So it’s kind of a mix of realism and wish fulfillment. The writing is so strong that it actually made me question one of the core elements of my being: the fact that I hate the Joy Division song “Love Will Tear Us Apart.” Eleanor and Park describe this song so lovingly and make it sound so awesome that I thought, “Hmm, I must be wrong.” But no, I still don’t like it.

Also, there’s a the lack of diversity in YA and it’s very rare to have an Asian/biracial protagonist (Park is Korean and white) especially in a love story, so that was cool.

Darius & Twig by Walter Dean Myers

Two friends, a writer and a runner, have big ambitions, but it’s hard to get by in Harlem where they live. Walter Dean Myers is a national treasure—no, he’s a treasure for the whole planet.

More Than This by Patrick Ness

This is no ordinary book. The really cool cover that has a tiny door in it led me to hope that might be the case, and then my dreams came true. As the book opens, the main character Seth drowns. Then he wakes up, in what seems to be his childhood home in England, but the whole neighborhood is deserted. Or is it? You can’t take anything at face value in this book. If you look back at my review (in Best of 2013: Fiction) of The Arrivals by Melissa Marr that has a somewhat similar plot, you’ll see that I questioned whether whether true conceptual originality is even possible. Well, this novel shows that it is, perversely because it plays with the tropes that we’re all so accustomed to. Is any of the stuff that happens to Seth even really happening? If that sounds annoying, well, it is. When I finished the book, I felt frustrated, because even though the story was delivering the true nature of reality (as follows: you have no idea what’s real), I expect a book to have a certain novelistic sense of closure and explanation because it’s not real life, it’s a book. But then I kept on thinking about this book for a long time so I decided that it was a very profound reading experience where a little bit of frustration was okay. Similar to the experience I had with The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann except that this book is quick and fun and easy to read and has a lot of action and also queer content.

Stealing Second: Sam’s Story by Barbara Clanton

Full disclosure: Barbara Clanton is a writer friend. I have read almost all of her books and enjoyed them all. This book is in a series about lesbian high school baseball players, and this is my new favorite in the series. Each book in the series is told from a different POV. This one is about Sam, a poor little rich girl who doesn’t have much of a relationship with her parents, but luckily she has a close friendship with her childhood nanny, who has stayed on as a sort of family retainer. Sam has a girlfriend Lisa who she’s very happy with but Sam doesn’t feel ready to come out yet. There is a big plot twist that took me by surprise. Brief review here.

Another 365 Days by KE Payne

Sequel to 365 Days. Basically a lesbian Diary of Adrian Mole. Fluffy and fun. I love the main character Clemmie’s daft ways and the fun British slang like “fit as the butcher’s dog.”

The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau

It’s not the plot that makes this book great. This is standard dystopian fare—teens living under evil regime must compete in a contest where only some will come out alive, &c. It’s just really tight and well-written and fun. A total page turner.

What else?

Fan Girl by Rainbow Rowell

A girl’s first year in college seems doomed because all she wants to do is write slash fanfiction and her identical twin sister wants to individuate herself from her, but then there’s a dreamy boy.

Unthinkable by Nancy Werlin

Companion novel/sequel to Impossible. A girl who has been trapped in a fairy realm is told she can leave, if she destroys her family.

The Reluctant Assassin by Eoin Colfer

Victorian orphan and child FBI agent must foil evil time travel plot.

Thorn Abbey by Nancy Ohlin

A retelling of Daphne DuMaurier’s Rebecca, set in a boarding school (just like in New Girl, one of the 2012 retellings.) Has a cool supernatural element and twisty ending. 

The Culling by Steven Dos Santos

It’s that rarest of creatures, a gay dystopian YA novel! Teens living under evil regime must compete in a contest where only some will come out alive, plus queer content.

Shadows by Robin McKinley

Maggie lives in a world where magic is possible but forbidden. She doesn’t like her new stepfather because he has strange shadows that follow him around.

Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan

I admire this book because it is the first YA novel that has two boys kissing on the cover. I think it was clever of Levithan to base the book on the true story of two guys breaking the world record for longest kiss. I esteem Levithan for promoting diversity in YA even further by having one of his seven gay male teen main characters in the book be Korean-American and another be transgender. And in theory I appreciate the idea of having the book narrated by a Greek chorus of gay men who have died of AIDS. Everything about this book gave me the warm fuzzies, except for the reading it part. To be completely candid, I was incredibly bored every single second I was reading this book and I couldn’t wait for it to be over. It’s fair to say that I encountered this book at the absolute lowest point in my life (so far), and that may have something to do with my inability to jump on the love train for Two Boys Kissing.

In The After by Demitria Lunetta

Zombielike creatures have taken over the world but Amy has managed to survive for several years with a toddler in her fortress-like apartment. A chain of events leads her to a compound that’s safe from the creatures, but will this protected colony turn out to be a dystopia?

The Loop by Shandy Lawson

Ben and Maggie are forced to repeat the same two days that end in their deaths, over and over.

Moxie and the Art of Rule-Breaking by Erin Dionne

A girl gets involved in an art heist and treasure hunt in Boston. This book is actually Middle Grade (for pre-adolescents), not YA.

You Look Different in Real Life by Jennifer Castle

Along with four other kids, Justine is the subject of a series of documentaries (like the 7 Up series.) That was all very well and good when she was little, but now it’s ruining her life.

All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill

A girl must travel back in time to kill someone. You won’t be surprised by anything that happens, but hey, time travel is always fun.

Tides by Betsy Cornwell

It’s about selkies! Also featuring eating disorders, transracial adoption, and queer content. Why do paranormal stories always involve a romance with a really creepy age gap?

The Shade of the Moon by Susan Beth Pfeffer

The final (?) book in this series about what happens when the moon is knocked out of orbit, unleashing cosmic destruction on the earth.

The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die by April Henry

Thriller about a girl who wakes up with amnesia and someone is trying to kill her.

Dance of Shadows by Yelena Black

Girl discovers sinister happenings at prestigious New York City ballet school. Full review here.

Next up: 2013 Non-fiction/Memoir

This is taking longer than I thought, so it might be a few days.